ABED wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2019 9:24 am
They told the audience literally nothing. "Burn Up!! A Close Fight - A Violent Fight - A Super Fierce Fight" could apply to any DB movie and any number of other films.
"Burn Up!! A Red-Hot, Raging, Super-Fierce Fight" or whichever translation you prefer is actually one of my favorite titles. It tells the audience that the battle featured will be an extremely intense and trying ordeal. It's not your ordinary fight. The terms used invoke the feeling of overwhelming hot temperatures and extreme endurance. I'm not sure if the other battles from other movies compare.
Movie titles should be memorable. It's marketing.
I suppose if you're talking about marketing in the West, that might be the case. In Japan these movies were created for special festivals showcasing Toei's various properties for children. I doubt they cared too much about the marketing aspect.
As for FUNimation's marketing, I just think they could have tried harder than simply taking the villain's name for a title. It worked well enough for the first three Z movies. Like instead of "Return of Cooler", why not "Big Gete Star"? Or instead of "Broly - Second Coming", "Dangerous Duo"?
Dbzfan94 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2019 11:31 am
Sure, the dub titles can be kind of lame by just using the villain's name, but at least it's not completely generic.
MasenkoHA wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2019 12:42 pm
Of the Japanese titles Z movie 3,5, 8-11 are the only ones that actually feel generic and interchangeable.
I disagree that the titles are generic and interchangeable. They all reference the plot in some particular manner. And even if some of them could possibly be interchangeable with others, I'd say it's worth it for the sake of a bit more imagination from both the writers and the audience.
It's not like this doesn't happen in fiction all of the time. Take something like Star Wars for example.
WittyUsername wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Calling DBZ Movie 4 “Super Saiyan Son Goku” is still somewhat misleading, considering that the titular “Super Saiyan” is treated as nothing more than an afterthought in the movie.
No more misleading than something like "Dead Zone", which I think is a nice title.
At the very least, titling the movie after the antagonist makes a lot more sense than titling it after some relatively pointless transformation.
I'd say the Super Saiyan transformation is significant enough to warrant a title. Even if it was executed as an afterthought. But again, you have writers who are willing to break convention and think outside of the box with titles like "Dead Zone" and "Super Saiyajin Son Goku", or "Burn Up..." etc., which I think is a bit healthier for the audience's imagination and overall psychology. The marketing aspect however is another matter entirely.